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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. degree — from a university
  4. charge — a price
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. degree — an amount
  7. charge — electricity
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. pitch — completely
  13. chest — a box
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. charge — in control
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. degree — temperature
  21. chest — of your body
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. dip — to sink
  24. straw — a straw man

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com